A Silent Love
by Inuki Akaryu
Summary: What if Shoya realized his dream earlier he decides to go along with Shouko to Tokyo? What if what awaits him are the troubles of a new city? Will he realize his true feelings or will they crumble to dust beneath his scissors. (based off of manga) (AU) Rating is subject to change. Koe no Katachi/A Silent Voice.


Third person POV:

"A letter of recommendation?" Shoya asked as he talked to his friend, Shouko Nishimiya, after a crazy morning with the reunion of their friends, the two were currently talking on the bridge. Shouko was signing to him about the great news, 'an instructor she respects who's hearing impaired invited her to come work in his salon while she earns license in...Tokyo,' Shoya felt uneasy, not fully understanding why.

"Wow, but you want to stay in the area right, Nishimiya?" Shoya asked as she just looked down, "...Tokyo?" he once more watched as Shouko signed that she wanted to go, Shoya looked like a deer in headlights.

"You can't go to Tokyo!" there was a pause- Shouko seemed shocked at his response, he continued, "Tokyo's a scary place! There's a lot of crime! And tons of murders! If you go all alone... you'll be hassled by weirdos!" he yelled while signing 'why are you doing this?' Shoya felt his heart twist upon itself.

"Do you really want to you to that kind of place?!" Shouko was shell shocked by his outburst, "p-p-p-plus..." he was about to complete his sentence when his words went through his own head, 'why are you doing this, aren't you her friend?' the thought echoed in his head.

"It's really, really, really far! What about Yuzuru? She's not even going to school! She'll be so lonely and she might cry everyday! And I'm sure your mom will bawl her eyes out! Do you really want to go? Bad enough to make your family cry?!" he failed his arms, looking at Shouko, she looked upset. He was stunned by her expression. Shouko quickly signed something Shoya wasn't able to understand, soon after she finished she walked away.

"Nishimiya?!" Shoya called to her but to no avail; he stood there for a moment, processing what just hit him 'w-why would you say all those things to her aren't you her friend!' his subconscious screamed out at him.

"I-I..." just as he was about to respond, he heard a voice snapping him back to reality.

"What's the matter Ishida?' Shoya turned around to see Yuzuru, Shouko's little sister, "what're we gonna do, Yuzuru?! Nishimiya says she's gonna go to Tokyo!"

"I know that," Yuzuru answered calmly.

"What're we gonna do?!" raising his voice in a panic, "won't you cry?!"

Not phased by his outburst Yuzuru answered, "I'll cry… but this means she's... started thinking about her future." taking a breathe, he smiled softly, "I know that's a totally natural thing… but I think the old sis would have just quietly chosen to stay near home."

"Then how do we stop her?!" Yuzuru only gave Shoya a blank stare, "she isn't thinking straight! I-I guess she's gotten the idea from Sahara, o-or Ueno, but she's not like them she can't hear!"

Now it was Yuzuru's turn to be shell shocked by Shoya's outburst. Having enough, she turned around…

"I'm going home," she looked off to the side slightly, "you should go home too; calm down a little," she said leaving Shoya working himself up so much that he was literally panting.

"Good idea, I'll go home and think about how to stop her..."

*Shoya's POV:*

I'm walking home, looking up at the evening sky, thinking about my conversations with Shouko and Yuzuru.

"How can Yuzuru be so calm about Shouko leaving?! She would be all alone in a strange place; she wouldn't know what to do!"

He knew he was right but something keep bugging him.

"What did Yuzuru mean the old sis? Why can't people make sense?" sighing, he continued walking, still thinking about the questions he thought of earlier, "am I really Shouko's friend? She did look upset at me...what am I gonna do? She's already looking forward to her future, and I.. don't have a clue what I wanna do..."

Stopping, he took a deep breath, "I need some advice."

*Timeskip*

"How can I stop her, mom?" I asked my mom, she looked at me.

"Huh? Do you really need to stop her?" she asked.

"Of course I do! Who wouldn't?" I exclaimed, she only let out a sigh.

"Well, if she didn't have the money or something, then I'd stop her… but, but, if that's not a problem, I'd hear her out first and if-" "-but what about all the murderers and stuff in Tokyo!? When I brought that up, she got mad and ran off! Yuzuru even said she was going to cry when she left the poor kid, there's no way that girl can live in Tokyo all by herself?"

His mom only smiled and said, "for the moment, why don't we focus on eating dinner? Go change out of your school clothes," that was when a notification went off on my phone, "is that Nishimiya?" Mom asked me as I but shook my head.

"No, it's from Sahara," the message said: 'we're going to Tokyo next year!' There was a picture of Miyoko holding tickets and a paper that said, 'grand prize' and Naoka in the background crying. Looking at my phone, my mom let out a gasp… a bit later, I laid on the floor of my room, deep in thought. I had stopped and compose myself, why could I support Sahara and Ueno going but Tokyo but not Nishimiya?

"Did I really say that she couldn't go because she couldn't hear… 'some friend I am I didn't mean it in the end.. I realize that this was all because of my selfishness... I didn't want her to go…'

"But why though? I have other friends...why was I so obsessed on her not going…?" sighing I tried to get my mind off it. What Yuzuru had said stuck me, 'she's already started thinking about her future...what am I going to do about my future..? Soon, I'll just be a bum leaching off his mother… what do I want to do…' rubbing my head, I gripped my hair harsly.

'-wait… hair! Nishimiya is going to become a hairdresser; what if I follow that path as well…? Could I really do it? What if I go with Nishimiya to Tokyo so she's not alone…? Would that be selfish as well? Closing my eyes wanting to escape the lines of questions, I fell asleep.

It was now morning, I was down in the kitchen drinking some juice with one hand and fixing my hair with the other, when suddenly my mom spoke, "if you're that worried about Nishimiya, why don't you just go to Tokyo with her?" she looked over at me.

"H-huh…? The thought crossed my mind last night."

Mom simply laughed, "haha, I could tell, I could see it in your eyes. It's not like there's anything else you want to do, is there? Don't worry about the money, just do as you like."

I didn't respond and just looked at her until my phone went off, "is that her?" my mom teased, as she quickly looked over my shoulder at my phone, the message read: 'sorry about yesterday, I gave things a lot of thought since then, and the truth is part of me was fascinated by Tokyo, but I guess that alone isn't a very good reason to go, is it? There's Yuzuru to worry about as well, and I would be lonely leaving my family, not making you and the others lonely, I can learn my lessons from anywhere, so I'll work on that closer to home instead of Tokyo. p(^^)q'

"Oh my," mom gasped as I stood there feeling awful.

*Time skip*

"Wow, so Nishimiya wants to go to Tokyo! I think it would be a big waste not to go!" Miki said, currently I was sitting next to my friends eating lunch.

"Have you replied yet?" Tomohiro asked while I just shook my head.

"No, not yet… I don't know how to reply," I sighed then Miki said, "why not just tell her you'll go with her?"

"Huh?" 'There's that idea again to go with her, but would it be selfish of me to go with her…?' realizing I'm just sitting there, I answered, "my mom said the same thing."

I didn't want to tell them I thought of it as well.

"Were you planning to go to a local college, Ishida?" a new voice spoke up, iit was Toshi Mashibasa.

"Yeah... although it's not like there's something I really wanna to do..." thinking back, I just sort of figured I'd stay around here my whole life watching my mom tend to customers, it'd put me on edge, I'd sometimes catch myself wondering if any weirdos would come in or think about how scary that last guy was, I'm the only man around the house. I'd always worried about her.

"I'd never thought about leaving home, this has been putting me on edge. If I left and something happened to her, it would be my fault."

"You guys aren't having trouble deciding? Do you know what you're going to do after we graduate?" I asked.

"I'm going to film school, I'm doing my best to convince my parents!" Tomohiro exclaimed.

"You don't know when to quit do you, Nagatsuka?" Tomohiro looked at her.

"What? Are you looking to start a war?" She covered her mouth as she giggled, "I meant it in a good way," I looked at Toshi.

"You're going to be a teacher, right Mashiba?" I asked.

"Yep, I'm going to Kuise University, but I'm going over whether or not I want to become a teacher, I get the feeling I only thought I found the right dream for me," he finished.

"Oh...is that right?" I asked, "I know we're high school students, but when we graduate we'll be starting from nothing so we gotta find out what we wanna do fast!"

Those words hit me hard, what do I want to do? It seem like that's the best question to ask myself, what do I want? Would mom really be okay if I just go to college? And not even now that I don't know what I want to do, I'm just wasting mom's money…

"Yep!" I heard a voice snapping me back to reality just as Toshi spoke, "Kawai, you should do what you want to do."

There was a an awkward pause before Miki spoke, "yeah! This is why I want to do! This is me!" Toshi just looked at her, "really then go for it!"

"Okay!"

I was sorely confused to what just happened, I really needed to learn how to stop spacing out in the middle of conversations.

"Hey Mashiba," Tomohiro called our friend, "if you're not interested you have to turn her down. What do you say about Kawai?"

"Hmm, I like her," Toshi after thinking for a moment replied.

"Really?"

"Yep almost as much as I like kids," 'huh, a weird way of saying it,' I thought, "so she comes in third!"

"Well, she's pretty high on the list, I like kids too," I just stayed silent, maybe spacing out in mid-conversation wasn't that bad a thing to do.

*Time skip*

"Welcome home," mom greeted me as I looked at her, "what is it?"

"What made you decide to be a hairdresser, mom?"

"Well," she smiled, "it looks fun, doesn't it? Snip, snip," she laughed.

"Is that all?"

"That's it," is it really that easy?

"Oh, I almost forgot! Take a look at this, Yuzuru won an award for excellence in the citywide contest, isn't that incredible?" 'hmmm this is that photo Nishimiya sent in,' "Yuzuru is here right now, so why don't you give her some gelatin in fridge?"

"Sure," grabbing it from the fridge, I went to see her.

"Hey Yuzuru, congrats on winning that contest," she looked at me and, to my surprise, she was wearing a school uniform.

"Indeed, have a seat, please," shocked, I had to ask.

"Did you go to school?!"

"Indeed, now hurry up and take a seat," sitting down, she held out a paper, "by the way, this is a quiz, as you can see, I got a rather horrible score," I studied it.

"Ohh you're right, that is bad."

"I just barely managed to keep Shouko and mom from spotting it, I'm in it deep this time. I'm lucky your mother helped me," I smiled as she spoke.

"Sure looks like you've finally gotten the motivation, huh?"

"Indeed," she grabbed a packet, "it is time after all-" -'time...huh I still don't know what I wanna do, yet time will always go forward'- "-mind if we take care or my homework first?" she asked as I took her math homework fromm her.

"Sure, I'll look over it for you to start with, so why don't you show me how much you can do by yourself?" as I helped Yuzuru study, I began thinking, "'I'm doing my best to convince my parents, once we graduate we'll be starting from nothing," this is my life, what do I want? I made the excuse of wanting to protect my mom, which is true, but if I just live at home, I'll just be leeching off of her... Tomohiro, Shouko, Miki and even Toshi have thought about what they want to do… Shouko…'

"Yuzuru," continuing once she looked up from her work, "Nishimiya said she's gonna give up going to Tokyo."

"I know, I guess it's pretty hard for her to leave with me still in this shape, huh? Sis is the only one who gave me a chance to go back to school, and with that photo she gave me. Everyone praised it at school, even people I didn't know, so I got to live up to those expectations, I guess."

"Then," I looked at her, "on the next test, you should study hard and get a hundred."

"Are you sure about that? I should probably aim for the 30's, or else sis might get relieved and actually run off to Tokyo," she chuckled softly.

"Yeah…" I paused, lost in thought, "she might." 'but that's for the best,' "will you be okay, Yuzuru?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"Then is it okay if I tell her that I support her going to Tokyo?"

"Yeah. It's all she's said as we studied the night away.

That morning, I'd gotten a reply from Shouko, she thanked me and said she would rethink going carefully, that she would support my dream as well…

"My dream… huh? I haven't thought that far ahead but I'm sure shouko will do what she wants and the others will do they want too, so what about me? It was simple, for mom… she did it 'cause it looked fun… all I wanted was to be around Shouko... I-I think I've gotten it, I finally know what I wanna do…"

It was decided that Shouko would go to Tokyo, her mother, who had been against it, apparently said offhandedly to Yuzuru. I had decide I wanted to go to Tokyo with her, I just needed to tell everyone first. I was looking at different salons in Tokyo when I went to my room, there was someone in my bed.

"Get out, sis, this is my room!" pulling the covers off to my surprise, I found Naoka in my bed.

–"Mom!"

"H-hey, wait!"

"What are you doing here? get out of my bed!"

"What will you do if I don't~?" Naoka looked at me, smirking. I only picked up a peanut.

"I will throw peanuts at you," I said and started pegging her with said nuts.

"Ow, ow, owww! I just wanted to talk!"

*Time skip*

We had gone to a local park.

"I'm gonna go to Tokyo," Naoka spoke first as sat down.

"Yeah, I heard from Sahara," there was a pause before she spoke again, "I heard Nishimiya is going to Tokyo too."

"Yep," I said, "if you like her that much, why don't you come to Tokyo with us?" Naoka suggested.

"I guessed you'd be the first person I'm telling this to, I had thought about it for a while and decided that if Nishimiya wants me to go with her then I'll go. I just need a friend to talk to her, I'm gonna go to school to be a hairdresser."

"So the same thing as Nishimiya?" I looked at her "Nishimiya? She's going to be a beautician, the hairdresser you may not know this, but it's a totally different thing. I mean, the certifications and stuff. We just do hair."

Naoka only sighed.

"You don't know anything, do you? At the very least, there are three things you don't know: number one Nishimiya doesn't want to be a beautician, she wants to be a hairdresser," I was shocked,

"No way…" Naoka only smiled, "yes way, Sahara told me isn't that great?!"

"Huh? Oh yeah," Naoka took a breath before continuing, "number two, they told me not to tell you, but I'm going to anyway. When you fell in the river and almost died the ones who fished you out where Shinada and Hirose. they said they spotted you in the festival and followed you 'cause they thought it'd be funny. Back in elementary school, they really did like you, you know. But I guess that sorta changed, I think they wanted to erase the fact that you were ever friends and so did I. I'm sorry, Ishida...

"I wrote on your desk too, I bad mouthed you and put dirt in her shoes... I'm...just an awful person... even after all this, I can't bring myself to like her, I don't want to like her..." I decided to finally speak.

"Yeah, back when I was still friends with Shinada and Hirose, when I'd talk to them they'd always responded the way I expected, so I felt like I knew everything about them then they became one of the ones I understood the least. All I could do was wonder why. It was my own fault, though. But now I feel like I could overcome that. Anytime I think you're fine the way you are, Ueno, I think you'll change when you're needed to. What you like and what you want and what you don't isn't everything…

"Plus, we still have plenty of time," she wiped her face as tears fell down her cheeks.

"Y...you're too soft."

"Oh, am I? I was trying to cheer you up, yeah," Naoka sighed looking off towards the sun.

"Looks like I gotta get home."

"Wait, you didn't tell me the third thing, I don't know what the last one is."

She simply ran away, "use your own brain for once idiot!"

And with that she was gone, 'I don't know what she's thinking I don't understand her sometimes,' I sighed.

*Time skip*

I had decide to stop and walk back to the bridge for a bit to see if Shouko would pass by. I leaned against the railing, looking down I thought to myself about how huge the carps have gotten. Looking to my side I found I was in luck, Shouko's here.

"Y-yo, Nishimiya," she had walked over, pulling out a bag of sliced bread from her side for the carp.

"H-hey, uh, Nishimiya, I… um..." 'why am I making this harder than it needs to be…?' "I wanted to tell you," I said/signed at the same time. I tried to say it, but the words felt like they were logged in my throat, and when it did come out, it was in gulps and stutters, "after I graduate, I'm gonna study to be a hairdresser, I want to know if I could go to Tokyo... with you!?" I yelled/signed 'why was I yelling?'

She gave me a surprised look and there was an awkward pause.

"Even if you don't want me to go with you, I'm doing this for myself. I don't want you to think I'm copying you or anything... or that I'm a creep who's just following you. Eventually, I want to go for my family salon, so what I'm trying to say is…

"I've been looking to get my license in Tokyo, and my mom said it was okay if I go and and, and…" taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my nerves, "that's all."

"..."

I was panting again, 'why am I so weird around her?' and here comes another pause, Shouko started sighing - 'I would like you to come, so let's do our best together!'- I smiled softly.

"Y-yeah," after my confrontation with Shouko, time seemed to fly by. I didn't have much of a chance to spend time with everyone besides time in school. I was mainly focusing on studying and helping Yuzuru; my mom had somehow managed to convince Shouko's mom to let me go with her, she was completely against it at first, but after some drinks she warmed up to the idea.

More time passed by and we all graduated high school, I was accepted to Yamano College to get my hairdressing license, and soon the day where Shouko and I would be leaving arrived. Mom, Tomohiro, and Yuzuru were there, all my stuff was packed inside my mom's car since she was driving us. It was decided that we would go by train. Shouko's mom spoke to mine and Tomohiro about what my mom's gonna do once she gets back from dropping me off at the airport. It was agreed she'd look after Yuzuru with help from Tomohiro.

"Thank you, you are both a big help. Keep an eye on Yuzuru for me," my mom smiled and nodded before looking at me.

"Let's get going," I nodded as well and got in the car as Shouko and Miss Nishimiya got into their vehicle. Tomohiro came up to my window.

"Good luck ya-sho, have fun with Nishimiya in Tokyo!"

"W-what do you mean?" he simply smiled and laughed.

"Be sure to text," he said walking away as we start to drive off, I thought about what's to come in the future, I was so nervous, but time always moved forward and I decided to move forward as well.

*Prologue End*


End file.
